Changes coming to Arizona Cardinals offense?

Whisenhunt doesn't see any major moves when it comes to the play-calling duties

by Kent Somers - Oct. 16, 2012 09:12 PMazcentral sports

The cry becomes louder with every failed play, of which there have been many. Isn't there a tackle, a guard, a tight end, a running back, a quarterback -- someone, anyone -- out there who can help the Cardinals?

The painful answer for Cardinals fans is "no." Good players are currently employed elsewhere. The time to upgrade an NFL roster is in the spring, not the fall.

Through six games, the Cardinals offense is averaging 283 yards. Only Jacksonville is worse. The team is scoring an average of 18.3 points a game. Only Oakland and Jacksonville are worse.

Complicating matters is the team's quarterback situation. Kevin Kolb is expected to miss several weeks after suffering a rib injury in Sunday's game.

Kolb reportedly has multiple detached ribs and a sprained sternoclavicular joint. That where the clavicle meets the sternum. John Skelton is expected to start for the first time since suffering a sprained ankle in the season opener.

And he's taking over as the team is entering what appears to be the most difficult part of its schedule.

It's an ugly bottom line that often can result in uncomfortable meetings in the head coach's office. Jobs can be lost. On Tuesday, for instance, Eagles coach Andy Reid fired defensive coordinator Juan Castillo. It's the first time Reid has fired an assistant during the season in 14 years.

Other head coaches in similar situations have reassigned assistants or taken away play-calling duties. Former Cardinals coach Dennis Green changed his staff almost as often as he did his socks.

But don't expect any major changes from Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt. He's not going to take play-calling duties away from coordinator Mike Miller, for instance, as a way to shake things up.

"You always consider things, but it's not that," Whisenhunt said of the play calling. "I'm involved with it; it's not like I'm not. It's not that the plays aren't there. We're just not executing the ones that are there."

That refrain, however, has been become familiar for this offense over the past three seasons.

Since 2010, the Cardinals have failed to convert the easy plays and make enough great ones. Losses to the Rams and Bills in the past two weeks provided a microcosm of that.

Against the Rams, the Cardinals missed on long passes to tight end Rob Housler and receiver Andre Roberts.

Against the Bills, Roberts dropped a pass on third down that would have kept a drive alive. Running back LaRod Stephens-Howling dropped a screen pass that would have resulted in big yardage. Fullback Reagan Maui'a contributed to the end of one promising possession when he was penalized for delay of game for spiking the ball following a 7-yard gain on first down.

These are not the Cardinals offenses of 2008 and 2009. Kurt Warner is not at quarterback, and the Cardinals can't count on overcoming mistakes by spreading the field with receivers and letting Warner go to work.

To win, the Cardinals don't have to play perfectly on offense, and they don't have to be great. Their defense is good enough that scoring 20 points will be enough to win most weeks.

"They give us an opportunity every single week," guard Daryn Colledge said. "It's going to be hard to (see) us getting blown out."

It's easy to see them losing a bunch of close games, however, unless the offense improves. It's a team that has to do a lot of the little stuff right, because other than Larry Fitzgerald, there isn't anyone else who has proved he can provide the big play.

So how do the Cardinals become more efficient? Whisenhunt doesn't think shaking up his coaching staff will do it. Nor does he plan to become more hands on in practice than he already is.

"Players are being held accountable and pushed," Whisenhunt said. "If (mistakes) are something that continues, then obviously you'll make changes, as much as you can.

"But it's not for a lack of effort or a lack of work or even scheme. As it is, when we have the opportunity to make (plays), we have to make them. Sometimes you've got to fight through those things."